BEIRUT: A wife and her lover have been arrested in Lebanon after stashing drugs in the car of the woman’s husband in a bid to get him arrested.

The husband was driving his car in Tabarja, eastern Beirut, when a police team stopped him, searched his car and found 11 bags of narcotics.

Police seized nine bags of hashish and two bags of salvi — a plant-based hallucinogen.

The Lebanese Internal Security Forces’ (ISF) anti-narcotics department apprehended the husband for possessing and dealing drugs and took him in for questioning.

“When questioned by interrogators, the husband denied the accusations, arguing that the seized narcotics didn’t belong to him and that he has never used or promoted drugs,” a senior officer close to the investigation told Arab News. 

After checking the husband’s criminal record, according to the officer, it was discovered that he had never been apprehended or involved in a drug case.

“It was a very strange incident. Normally when a suspect is held in possession of 11 bags of drugs it means he’s a promoter,” said the officer, who confirmed that his clean record was what exposed the wife’s malice.

ISF’s intelligence and information teams conducted further investigations before revealing that the person who had tipped off the police was connected to the wife.

That was when ISF members suspected that the wife and the person who had tipped off the anti-narcotics department had framed the husband.

According to an ISF media statement, a copy of which was obtained by Arab News, police detained the 35-year-old Syrian wife, R.S., and her 37-year-old Lebanese partner, S.H., in Jounieh and Tabarja on April 22. 

When questioned by interrogators the couple admitted that they were in love and needed to get rid of the husband. So they decided to land him in trouble by stashing drugs in his car and reporting him to the police.

After searching S.H.’s car, police seized an unlicensed handgun and eight bullets. 

“The suspects were referred to the General Prosecution pending further investigations,” the statement said.